Muhammadiyah announces board, fails to include women member

Muhammadiyah announces board, fails to include women member

Slamet Susanto, The Jakarta Post, Yogyakarta

Muhammadiyah announced here on Monday its new central executive
board comprising 18 members, including 13 people elected during
the recent national congress of the country's second largest
Muslim organization.

Despite calls from some women members of the organization, the
new board does not include any women.

The board includes former Muhammadiyah leaders Ahmad Syafii
Maarif and Amien Rais, who were named advisers to the central
board.

The new lineup for the 2005-2010 period was decided on during
a plenary meeting of Muhammadiyah in Yogyakarta on Sunday, which
was presided over by the organization's new leader, Din
Syamsuddin, who is also the secretary-general of the Indonesian
Ulema Council.

The board includes seven deputy chairmen, including current
national education minister Bambang Sudibyo and his predecessor
Malik Fadjar, as well as Haedar Nashir.

The new secretary-general of the 30-million strong
organization is Rosyad Sholeh, with Amien's younger brother
Dahlan Rais and Goodwill Zubair as his deputies.

The central board appointed Zamroni as the treasurer and
Fasichul Lisan as his deputy.

Rosyad was nominated by failed presidential candidate Amien to
replace Syafii Maarif during the 45th leadership congress of
Muhammadiyah in Malang, East Java, that ended on July 8.

The appointment of Rosyad as the new secretary-general
appeared to be a compromise move between Din's camp and the rival
faction led by Amien.

Din topped the votes in the election of 13 new board members
at the congress from a list of 39 names that had been selected
earlier during a national conference. On the final day of the
congress, the 13 board members convened and named Din as
Muhammadiyah's new leader.

"The number of executive board members is maintained as 13
people. After working, we will evaluate it and determine whether
there is a need to increase it or not," Din said when announcing
the new lineup at Muhammadiyah's Yogyakarta office.

In the same news conference, Haedar Nashir said that under the
new leadership Muhammadiyah would focus on efforts to revitalize
the organization by strengthening and empowering its social and
educational movements.

He said the organization's priority would be 10 issues,
including increasing Muhammadiyah's social role at the
international, national and local levels.

I-box

New lineup of Muhammadiyah

Advisers: Ahmad Syafii Maarif, Amien Rais, Asjmuni Abdurrachman,
Ismail Suny and Abdurrahim Noor.

General Chairman: Din Syamsuddin

Chairmen: Haedar Nashir, Bambang Sudibyo, Malik Fadjar, Muhammad
Mogaddas, Yunahar Ilyas, Sudibyo Markus and Muchlas Abror.

Secretary-General: Rosyad Sholeh
Secretary: Dahlan Rais and Goodwill Zubir

General Treasurer: Zamroni
Treasurer: Fasichul Lisan.